Emmett Till, the Sandy Hook shooting and galvanizing public opinion.

Yesterday, I happened to catch a Joe Madison interview with Julie Mason on the POTUS channel on Sirius/XM. It was striking. Julie Mason said it gave her goosebumps. Someone else on Twitter said they were stunned and speechless listening.

It was 10 minutes of a 30 minute interview on a variety of topics. The interview was on Sirius/XM's OnDemand online so I listened to it again & here is a rough summary below:

Joe Madison (twitter handle @blackeaglepower ):
Emmett Till - Jet magazine showed the open casket of his mutilated body - his mother insisted it be open - the state of Mississippi tried to get it sealed.

"I was 5 years old. I remember it. It was huge.

Now,

They should show the pictures of the victims at Sandy Hook and, I guarantee you, the debate would be transformational.

Some people who aren't African American may not understand it but, when I said this to Jim Vance who is about my same age, he understood it immediately & said 'you're right'."

It was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. He talks about Rosa Parks & the myth of her not getting up because her feet hurt. Joe said he said that to her once & she jumped all over him & said "That's a lie. Don't ever repeat that myth. She (Rosa Parks) said she sat there & thought about Emmett Till & thought enough was enough."

Emmett Till's mom could only recognized him by the ring he was wearing. It was his father's ring which she had given to him and that was how she had to identify him. That was all she could recognize.

First Responders told me there were children whose parents could only identify them because of the clothes they put on the child that morning.

A First Responder said there was a child who'd had their face blown off.

One child was shot up to 11 times.

Do we not see photo's of the Holocaust? Of the victims?

When they have the debate on the floor of the Congress, Put up the pictures of the crime scene. Put up the pictures of the victims.

A First Responder said they went in one little room, that the blood was almost ankle deep.

One teacher was hugging a child. A bullet went through her skull and then through the child she was trying to protect & killed both of them

Am I being vivid? Yes I am

We sanitize this violence so we can move on.

Why not show the pictures?

We don't so we can justify not doing anything.

Quit showing the gun or even the clip - David Gregory got in trouble just for showing that.

Show the victims."

Last night, jillian posted an interview with Noah Pozner's Mom:

Veronique told me that Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy visited her in the funeral home, and she brought him to see Noah’s open casket. I asked her why it was important for her and for the governor to see Noah’s body. “I needed it to have a face for him,” she said. “If there is ever a piece of legislation that comes across his desk, I needed it to be real for him.”

Veronique continued on in this vein for a few minutes. But I still felt that I didn’t understand why she, as a mother, chose to see Noah’s body, so I asked her again: Why, for her? “I owed it to him as his mother, the good, the bad, the ugly,” she said. “It is not up to me to say I am only going to look at you and deal with you when you are alive, that I am going to block out the reality of what you look like when you are dead. And as a little boy, you have to go in the ground. If I am going to shut my eyes to that I am not his mother. I had to bear it. I had to do it.” Several family members also chose to view Noah’s body.

Then, unprompted by me, Veronique described what she saw: “We all saw how beautiful he was. He had thick, shiny hair, beautiful long eyelashes that rested on his cheeks. He looked like he was sleeping. But the reality of it was under the cloth he had covering his mouth there was no mouth left. His jaw was blown away. I just want people to know the ugliness of it so we don’t talk about it abstractly, like these little angels just went to heaven. No. They were butchered. They were brutalized. And that is what haunts me at night.”

2. Yes, the press needs to show the bloody sheets

16. "Bloody shirt"

"Bloody sheet" is proof that a bride was a virgin. 'Waving the bloody SHIRT' means to use victims to criticize an opponent or to use past injustices to justify (or as a distraction from) current injustices. Either use is pejorative.

3. I saw an interview with Mrs. Till several years ago du

where she explained her decision to leave Emmet's casket open. His death would not have had such galvanizing effect on the civil rights movement if his body had not been shown. As horrible as the pictures of the Sandy Hook victims would be, it may be necessary for them to be seen in order to bring about real change in gun laws.

10. If the families consent, it's fine.

I commend Mrs. Till and Veronique Pozner for their decisions and agree that it personalizes these crimes and gives them more impact on people who otherwise might not be affected, but I would also understand the decision by any families who chose not to have their loved ones' death photos shown.

7. +1

8. I think Noah's mom did the right thing

This shooting should not be sanitized nor forgotten like the others. Everyday it should be in everyone's memories as it will be in Noah's family and the Newtown victims' families.

This prompted me to write to my 3 government representatives, my prime minister, my MP and my provincial MP. I attached the story with my email as well. I do not want my country to become like the USA.

I read that my prime minister wants to lessen the restrictions on assault weapons.... and we are going to be making and shipping them to Columbia....

The gun nuts write their representatives.. Too many who don't want assault weapons to be available like they are now, just don't write . Better yet copy the story and send them it.

9. Kick

11. The kind of courage...

... Veronique Pozner had to find to do this sadly necessary act of selflessness, for the greater good, leaves me in awe. That it takes something so terrible for us to finally move in the direction of doing something to end the insanity, is unforgivable.

May the NRA and all of it's members never have a peaceful night's sleep again. Their EVIL hands are covered with blood of each of THEIR victims.